A Perfect End
by SonsOfAFallenGod
Summary: After the fight with Ywach, Ichigo is haunted his threat to kill them all at their happiest. He's forced to make the hardest decision of his life. My attempt at making any sort of sense of that horrible ending. Ichiruki angst.


Ywach was defeated. The father of the Quincies, the man who had absorbed God, the man who had vowed to destroy all of creation in order to remake it as he saw fit was dead. Ichigo thought that would make him feel more at ease, but it didn't. Instead all he felt was dread.

He recalled the words Ywach said before he had went through the portal. Warning Ichigo and everyone else there that he would find the future in which they were all the happiest and slaughter them there. _He's dead,_ Ichigo thought, _there's no way he make good on that threat now…_ But that thought did little to assuage his fears. After all, he had seen Ywach seemingly come back to life after the first joint attack he'd done with Aizen. Ywach had said then that he could even overwrite the futures in which he had died.

That thought of Aizen, snapped him out of his inner struggle. He looked around at the battlefield, looking for any sign of Aizen. Eventually he found him, lying unconscious under a pile of rubble. _I never thought I'd see the day that he'd help me with anything,_ Ichigo chuckled to himself. Aizen had once been his greatest enemy, but when you're fighting someone who wants to destroy all of creation, the guy who just wanted to rule it suddenly doesn't seem so bad.

As Ichigo cleared the debris off of Aizen, he heard footsteps approaching. He turned and saw most of friends rushing over. Rukia made it to him first.

"Ichigo!" she shouted. Seeing all of them again brought a smile to his face.

"Yo, Rukia." He replied nonchalantly. Rukia smiled a little before looking around.

"So…is it over?" She asked.

"Yeah…Ywach is dead." Ichigo answered. Then a genuine smile spread across her face. _She looks beautiful when she smiles,_ Ichigo thought. It was then she seemed to notice who Ichigo was helping here.

"Is that Aizen?!"

"Yeah."

"Yeah?! Is that all you have to say? I mean what is he doing here?"

She seemed upset. Understandably so, after all she wasn't exactly Aizen's biggest fan after he had nearly had her executed. Ichigo took a breath before explaining.

"He helped me beat Ywach. Honestly, without him I would have died almost as soon as I got here. His power really came in handy. Without him and Uryu, I wouldn't have stood a chance."

""Really?" She asked, more to herself than anything. She seemed lost in thought for a second before she shook her head and started helping Ichigo clear the rubble. "In that case, I should thank him…before we put him back in prison." Ichigo just chuckled at that.

As Ichigo and Rukia were both clearing off the last of debris, Renji and Orihime came over.

"Yo, Renji, Orihime." Ichigo waved them over. When they got there, Renji started to pull Aizen up. Orihime seemed shocked when she saw him, but didn't say anything. _I guess Renji told her about him._ "You know, Renji, I'd almost forgot you came along for this fight."

"Shut it, strawberry."

"I mean did you do anything? Last I checked it was me and Aizen doing all the work, then Uryu saved the day with his Deus Ex Arrow…" Rukia laughed a little at the teasing from Ichigo.

"Oh shut up," Renji responded. "I…was just waiting for a good opportunity."

"Mhm… Right. Of course you were. You know if I'd known how much 'help' you'd be, I might have brought Kon instead. At least he might have annoyed Ywach to death." That elicited more laughter from the others.

"Anyway," Rukia interrupted, "why don't we all go to squad four…or whatever's left of it, anyway? I'm sure we could all use some medical attention, and it'd be unfair to put all the burden on Orihime. And we need to contact someone and find out what to do about Aizen."

"Good idea." Ichigo agreed.

Renji then went to get Uryu and the others. Orihime looked at Ichigo and asked, "Do you want me to heal you?"

He just shook his head, "There are plenty of people hurt worse than me. I'll be fine."

About then Uryu and Renji and came over and Uryu said, "I'm surprised you actually managed to get that hit in time Ichigo. It looked like Ywach's power was starting to come back."

That sentence renewed Ichigo's fear. What if he had recovered enough to alter their futures, what if he had made good on his final threat? There was no way of knowing, at least not until it was too late. If Ywach did come back, Ichigo didn't like his chances of winning again. It was highly unlikely that Aizen would be around to help again, and even less likely that there were more of those magic arrows just lying around.

His worries must have been plastered all over his face, because Rukia suddenly looked at him with worry in her eyes and said, "Hey…Ichigo, What's wrong?"

Ichigo looked around him. He looked at his friends. He remembered how happy it made him to see them safe after all this. He looked at Rukia, he remembered how happy he had been to see her again. He thought of how happy he had been to see her smile. And then he was terrified. What if Ywach was just waiting for a moment like this? He said he would come in his happiest moment, so…does that mean that in order to keep Ywach from coming back, he can't allow himself to be completely happy? With that fear ever present and growing in his mind, he said, "Hey, Rukia…can I talk to you alone for a second?"

Rukia looked confused for a second, but she nodded. She stood up and walked with Ichigo a few blocks away from the site of the battle. As they walked Ichigo told her everything he had seen during the fight, and told her the thought he had about Ywach possibly coming back.

"I see. So you're worried that being happy that we defeated him might cause him to come back?"

"That's not the only thing…I'm worried that being happy at all in the future might bring him back."

"But why are you telling me this? Why not everyone else?" Rukia asked. Ichigo paused to think. He hadn't really thought of a reason, as soon as he pieced this together he had thought he should tell her first. There wasn't a reason really it was just his first instinct. And that's when it hit him.

"Because…You're the one who's most important to my future happiness." He admitted.

Rukia looked shocked, "T-this isn't …the time for jokes, you fool…"

Ichigo's face was pained as he said, "It's not a joke… I mean, ever since I've met you I've always been the happiest when I was around you. I had just never realized it until now. The times when you weren't with me, like when you were about to be executed or when I lost my powers were some of the worst of my life."

"I-Ichigo…"

"I'm sorry if this is sudden, and you don't feel the same…"

"No- I mean yes. I- " She was clearly flustered, it made her look even more attractive than she already was. "I…I think…I might feel the same way…When I was about to be executed, when I was sure I was going to die, the last thing I thought of was you. I had intended to face my death without any tears, but when I thought about never seeing you again, I cried."

"Rukia, I want you to know…No matter what future I may have, I'll always love you."

Rukia had a single tear falling down her face as she said, "I …love you too, you big dummy…but why did you say it like that? Like it was a …goodbye?" her voice was trembling a little as she asked that, she seemed afraid of the answer she was going to get.

Ichigo swallowed hard and said, "Because…it is a goodbye. It has to be…I can't risk Ywach coming back, and if he's waiting for the moment in which I'm the happiest, then I can't be with you. Because that would be the happiest I could possibly be, to be a Shinigami here with you by my side."

"No!" Rukia protested, "If he comes back, we'll just beat him again. I mean…we can right?"

Ichigo shook his head, "This time it took me, Aizen, and some magic arrow to stop him. And I highly doubt we'd have all that lying around the next time."

"So what?!" Rukia yelled. With tears freely falling down she added, "What do you suggest? You want to just give up on any chance of happiness you have?! On…us?"

"Yeah." Ichigo said solemnly. "If me being miserable can save the universe, then it's an easy decision…The good of the many, you know?"

Rukia reached up and wiped her tears away, "I …understand…" She looked up at Ichigo with the same look in her eyes she had before his powers had faded away and he lost the ability to see her. That same sense of sadness filled them both now. She reached up and put her hands behind Ichigo's neck and said, "But for right now, let me have this moment."

And she pulled herself in closer and kissed Ichigo. It only lasted a few moments, but it would haunt the both of them for the rest of their lives. The kiss that would forever remind them of what should have been, of what was _meant_ to be.

The years passed, Ichigo stayed in the human world, he took over the family clinic. He stopped being a Shinigami, he never went back to Soul Society again. He married Orihime, and she seemed happy about that. But every night when he would go to bed, he was haunted by the future he could have had with Rukia, the future he should have had. He looks at his son, and as much as he loves him he's still tormented by the life he gave up for this…normal one. He wonders if it was worth it, if it was worth giving up everything he wanted in life for this…"Perfect End."


End file.
